Devices for locating oil fill caps or boxes



Feb. 4, 1964 G. J. BURKE DEVICES FOR LOCATING OIL FILL CAPS OR BOXES Filed Sept. 19. 1961 INVENTOR. GEORGE J. BURKE ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,120,067 Patented Feb. 4, 1964 My invention relates to means for locating the oil fill cap or box which is utilized in delivering oil or petroleum products and constitutes a continuation-in-part of patent application Serial No. 91,709 filed February 27, 1961 now Patent No. 3,031,783, issued May 1, 1962. The invention specifically comprehends the provision of a device attachable to the wall or side of a building, said device carrying a directional marking to facilitate location of the oil fill cap.

By way of introduction, in home and other fired heating systems, the fuel storage tanks which are employed, require both a vent and a delivery pipe outside the dwelling leading to and connected with the storage tank. At times when there has been considerable snowfall, the fill cap or box is often hidden from view of the delivery truck driver, and to locate the fill cap is a difficult, time-consuming and wasteful job for the driver who is under a tight schedule. There have been numerous occasions when it has taken the driver more than an hour digging in snow and ice to locate the oil fill cap.

I have devised a locating device which can be attached to the side of a house or building for use under conditions that do not permit the employment of the device disclosed in patent application No. 91,709, and provides efficacious means for locating the oil fill cap without digging or loss of time.

My invention consists of a circular rimmed disk carryiug an indicator and a lug, the disk pivoted at the outer end of an L-shaped bracket, the other right-angled portion of the bracket having two openings for receiving a pair of screws to aflix the bracket to a side of a dwelling. One of the screws has a large head for the dual purpose of holding the bracket to the wall and at the same time solidly positioning the disk.

This invention can be economically manufactured and purchased by the fuel oil distributor to equip such of his customers as have vent pipes located close to the ground and are tumble to use the device, which is the subject matter of my patent application Serial No. 91,709.

While it is obvious that the locating device can be fabricated of aluminum, magnesium or other metals and alloys thereof, it should be well understood that with the development of the improved plastic materials, my device can be manufactured economically of nylon, Fiberglas, Teflon, resinous thermoplastic and ther-rnosetting plastic materials having the necessary inherent strength and resistance to the elements.

It is manifest that my device can be employed with maximum efiiciency by the oil truck delivery driver under conditions, as heretofore stated, wherein the vent cap is located close to the ground and for that reason or others it may not be appropriate to use the locating device disclosed in my patent application Serial No. 91,709.

My invention eliminates the time-consuming and wasteful job of digging for and locating buried oil fill caps, and as it can be economically manufactured, it will cost the fuel oil distributor but a modest sum to purchase enough devices for such of his customers as cannot be equipped with the invention shown in patent application Serial No. 9 1,709. With these and other objects in view, reference is had to the drawings and specification herein.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the invention.

2 FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22' of FIG. !1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom elevation of the device. FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the invention. For the purpose of explication I have marshalled below the numbered parts of the invention:

5-disk or platform 6rim or skirt 7-top of disk 8raised directional marking on top of cap 9lug 10aperture in lug 11-wire through aperture 12t-ag on wire 13-bottom of disk 14-bracket 15horizontal arm of bracket 16-pivot point of bracket and diska boss 17leg of bracket 18-upper end of leg '19lower portion of leg 20'screw locking cap to bracket 2l-lower screw 22cap screw My invention, referring to the drawings, includes as a component disk '5, provided with depending rim or skirt 6. Upstanding from and integral with the top of the disk 7, is provided raised directional marking in the form of arrow 8 having at one end obliquely angled lug 9, apertured at 10 which may have wire -11 therethrough for attaching tag 12 to receive measurement data if desired. The center of the bottom 13 of disk 5 has a boss 16 internally threaded to receive a cap screw 22.

Supporting bracket 14 is provided with a horizontally extending arm 15 bored to receive boss 16 and thereby pivot disk 5 to the arm 15 which is held rotatably supported thereon as by cap screw 22. Extending at right angles from arm 15 is an elongated leg \17 having its upper end 18 constrained away from but in parallelism with the lower portion of the leg 19, permitting skirt 6 and disk 5 to be rotated for adjustment. Both the upper and lower portions 18 and 19 are pierced to receive bro-adheaded screw 20 and lowermost screw 21.

'In practicing the invention, to install the device, the driver of the oil delivery truck selects the wall, side or corner of the house or building near to the oil fill cap, places bracket 14 against the building and drives screw 21 home, with screws 20 and cap screw 22 not being fully tightened. Disk 5 is rotated until arrow 8 points directly at the oil fill cap, and screws 20 and 22 are then driven home with screw 20 locking skirt 6 between leg portion 18 and the wall and the bracket 14 to the wall. The disk 5 is thereby secured against untoward rotation with the tightening of cap screw 22 aiding in locking.

With the disk '5 thus fixedly positioned, the driver can, if he desires, place one end of a tape over lug 9, measure the distance to the oil fill cap and notes on tag 12 and in his delivery book the measurement for future reference. Thereafter on all oil deliveries, no matter how deep the snow, ice or slush, the oil fill cap can be located with dispatch, at great savings in labor, cost and driver fatigue.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. For example, if the device is used on a cement building, it is comprehended that screw anchors (not shown) may be utilized in place of screws '20 and 21, and it is not intended to limit the invention beyond the language of the claims and the requirements of the prior art.

I claim:

1. A device for use with a measurement tape in locating the oil fill cap of a fuel storage tank when said cap is located outside of a building, said device including, in combination, a disc having a top and bottom, and a depending annular rim, a marker on said top and integral therewith, an upwardly extending apertured lug integral with said marker at one end thereof adapted to hold one end of a measuring tape, an L-shaped supporting bracket having a horizontal leg extending beneath said disc, pivot means rotatably mounting the center of said disc on one end of said horizontal leg, said bracket including a depending vertical leg including a top portion contacting the interior surface of said rim and extending therebelow, and having a first screw receiving opening in that part of said top portion immediately below said rim, said top portion terminating in an outwardly offset portion having a depending vertical bottom portion norm-ally parallel to said top portion and in substantially vertical alignment with said depending rim, said bottom portion having a second screw receiving opening therein, a screw extending through said second opening adapted to secure said bottom portion to a vertical supporting surface, and a screw extending through said first mentioned opening adapted to engage the vertical supporting surface and clampingl to hold said r-irn against the surface to fix the position of said disc and hence said indicator after rotation of said disc to direct said indicator to the oil fill cap.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein a tag is flexibly attached to the apertured lug for the reception of measurement data showing the distance from the lug to the oil fill cap as determined by the measurement tape.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 807,343 Willswercheid Dec. 12, 1905 991,964 Plaherty May 9, 1911 1,063,783 Donovan June 3, 1913 1,238,387 Buck Aug. 28, 1917 1,253,479 Ellitherpe Jan. 15, 1918 1,403,772 Hannah Jan. 17, 1922 1,410,414 Sheets Mar. 21, 1922 1,569,424 Jacobus Jan. 12, 1926 2,617,215 Morris Nov. 11, 1952 2,697,234 Sturdevant Dec. 21, 1954 

1. A DEVICE FOR USE WITH A MEASUREMENT TAPE IN LOCATING THE OIL FILL CAP OF A FUEL STORAGE TANK WHEN SAID CAP IS LOCATED OUTSIDE OF A BUILDING, SAID DEVICE INCLUDING, IN COMBINATION, A DISC HAVING A TOP AND BOTTOM, AND A DEPENDING ANNULAR RIM, A MARKER ON SAID TOP AND INTEGRAL THEREWITH, AN UPWARDLY EXTENDING APERTURED LUG INTEGRAL WITH SAID MARKER AT ONE END THEREOF ADAPTED TO HOLD ONE END OF A MEASURING TAPE, AN L-SHAPED SUPPORTING BRACKET HAVING A HORIZONTAL LEG EXTENDING BENEATH SAID DISC, PIVOT MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTING THE CENTER OF SAID DISC ON ONE END OF SAID HORIZONTAL LEG, SAID BRACKET INCLUDING A DEPENDING VERTICAL LEG INCLUDING A TOP PORTION CONTACTING THE INTERIOR SURFACE OF SAID RIM AND EXTENDING THEREBELOW, AND HAVING A FIRST SCREW RECEIVING OPENING IN THAT PART OF SAID TOP PORTION IMMEDIATELY BELOW SAID RIM, SAID TOP PORTION TERMINATING IN AN OUTWARDLY OFFSET PORTION HAVING A DEPENDING VERTICAL BOTTOM PORTION NORMALLY PARALLEL TO SAID TOP PORTION AND IN SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL ALIGNMENT WITH SAID DEPENDING RIM, SAID BOTTOM PORTION HAVING A SECOND SCREW RECEIVING OPENING THEREIN, A SCREW EXTENDING 